Apple Acquire AI Start-Up
17
Jan

Ram Tumuluri AI Investment News – Apple Acquire AI Start-Up For 200,000,000

This week there was some huge news in the technology industry as both Google and Apple announced acquisitions of AI startups. Apple investors will most likely be pleasantly surprised with the announcement that they acquired a Seattle-based startup called Xnor.ai which specialises in making low-power, edge-based AI tools. The deal is reported to be valued at around $200 million and comprises an agreement to shift Xnor.ai employees to Apple’s office located in Seattle. 

Ram Tumuluri “This is fantastic news for investors into technology and in particular, the AI industry. Investors looking for smart ways to invest should keep a close eye on the market as the major players are actively seeking out the top upcoming startups to give them the all important inside edge on tech innovation.” 

Recent Acquisitions of Apple

In the recent years, Apple has encouraged devices that help AI algorithms run on devices rather than cloud-based solutions to keep user information more private and speed up processing. This is the main reason behind Apple’s latest acquisition, Xnor.ai which is specializing in making low-power, edge-based AI tools. The employees brought to Apple in the deal will be based in Apple’s office space in Seattle. Apple has made various AI-related acquisitions over the last few years, such as Voice App firm PullString, Silk Labs, Turi, and Drive.ai. According to PitchBook data, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook have made around twelve acquisitions since October 2019. 

Antitrust Probes of Large Tech Companies

While all the big boys are clambering to be no.1 in the AI race, these tech organizations have experienced harsh criticism more than once as of late and antitrust probes have been launched by the U.S states investigation into Facebook, Google and Amazon to look at the intersection of privacy and antitrust.

Big tech organizations are being faced with scrutiny recently as government officials, Democrats and Republicans, are starting to investigate their practices. The US Justice Department, the FTC and Congress have launched antitrust probes of the largest tech companies. The first probe focuses on Facebook. The second, announced by Texas did not specify the targets among large tech companies but was likely to center on Google and would look at the intersection of privacy and antitrust. In the meantime, both Facebook and Amazon’s competitive practices are under examination by the Federal Trade Commission. Apple Pay and the App Store are also in the sights of European regulators. They are looking into whether Apple is giving its system an unfair advantage over competitors. The pressure on Big Tech became very obvious when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos arrived in India and promised to invest an extra $1 billion in the organization’s Indian operations after India launched an investigation concerning alleged anti-competitive practices at the company.